“and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Cor. 5:15 NKJV……………..
I was daydreaming. Not for the first time. Most assuredly not for the last. I’m a daydreamer. My mind is rarely still. So it wasn’t a surprise one day I found myself thinking about the possibility of going somewhere to essentially talk to people about the Lord and about His Word. Somewhere specific. To some specific people. To some people anybody would agree simply must be reached with the Gospel of Christ and with help in following Him. If only I could get to these people. Surely I could. Surely this was important. Somehow it could happen. It should, after all. And on and on my mind went. Until all of a sudden the Spirit of God stepped in. Now mind you, I had not been praying. I hadn’t even been thinking about God. I had been thinking about what I felt perhaps I should do. That’s exactly when, and why, the Lord saw fit to break through my thoughts and speak to me.
“Have I called you there?” the Holy Spirit asked me.
“Nope,” I replied honestly.
“Have I called you where I’ve called you to be?” In other words, had He called me to be where I already was, i.e. where He had already sent me?
“Yup,” I answered quickly. The truth is the truth.
Now came His message to me. His reminder. His conviction. His clear direction. His instructions.
“Then please do what I’ve called you to do and not what I haven’t called you to do,” He said.
When we give our lives to Christ, we are not to go where we want to go to do what we want to do when we want to do it according to the world’s ways for our selfish ends and self-centered dreams; we are to surrender our lives to Christ such that the Spirit of God leads us where He wants us to go when He wants us to go there for Christ’s sake and God’s glory.
There was nothing in the least wrong with the idea I had been contemplating, with going to the place and to the people I had been thinking about, with the message of Christ EXCEPT that it simply wasn’t where the Lord was sending me – at least at that time anyway. So I needed to relinquish the idea to Him, and remember that my commitment in life is not to me but to the Lord.
It’s not always so very comfortable, or pleasant, or fun, or enjoyable, or pleasurable, to give up our own wishes, ways, and wants for the Lord’s sake, and in fact it can be downright challenging, painful, and hard as all heck. But when we give up our ways for the Lord’s ways, and our will for His, and our dreams for His, and truly live for God’s glory, the reward of growing more and more in His image and growing closer and closer to Him and of knowing we are bringing pleasure and joy to the Lord of the universe, there’s nothing on this earth that can possibly compare.
Are you where God wants you, dear friend? With whom He wants you? Doing what He wants you to do? For His glory? Or, have you not sought Him? Do you need to seek Him now? Or, have you sought Him but realize now you did not hear Him clearly or sought and heard Him and chose to disobey Him? Wherever you are, dear one, come to the Lord and be His. Repent of all sins, believe in Christ as Lord, yield yourself utterly and moment by moment to Him, spend time with and seek the Lord continually, stay ever studying His Word and learning to live by it, and open your heart and ears to the voice of His Spirit who will always speak in line with His Word to hear and obey the Lord most high!